Your children will never drive a petrol car

It is a shocking fact, unthinkable to most, that children who are being born now will never drive a petrol car. The world's oil production is about as high as it will ever get, and from now on it will only decline. If you don't believe this, then why not examine the facts: www.oilposter.org

Early engines were originally designed to run on peanut oil, and were only switched over to diesel for reasons of economics - diesel was far cheaper than any vegetable oil that could be had. Of course, we have now come full circle, and diesel in the UK is now far more expensive than vegetable oil.

Petrol rationing will come to Britain by about 2012

Britain's oil fields are way past their peak of production, and Britain is now a net importer of energy - we are dependent on foreign suppliers. But despite the price of oil rocketing, supply has not increased to meet this new demand. Why? Because their simply isn't enough oil to go round. There is only so much oil in the ground and when it is gone, it is gone.

If this sounds like panic-mongering then why not look at these other panic-mongers: the independent, the guardian and the times

According to Richard Pike, the CEO of the Royal Society of Chemistry, 74% of the oil we use in Britain is used for transport, so it should come as no surprise to find out that the first casuality of declining oil will be cars.

It's about this time in the discussion, that the alternatives are discussed. If not a petrol car, then perhaps a hydrogen car? Unfortunately, the alternatives are few and far between. A hydrogen car for all is nothing but a myth, and the closest contender is the electric car, but this is still a way off. And at the end of the day, something has to be used to produce the energy to make the electricity for our cars.

In all likelihood, the only lasting solution to our transport problem is public transport and pedal power. Maybe with the occasional vegetable oil car.

To find out more about the alternatives to our transport problem visit www.howtogocarbonneutral.com

Simple really

There are 6 areas to going carbon neutral. They are:

1. Heating
2. Electricity
3. Water
4. Transport
5. Food
6. Shopping

If you are carbon neutral in all of these areas, then you are fully carbon neutral. There are dozens of books which give you tips for how to reduce your carbon footprint, but in many cases they don't go far enough. You could follow all the tips in most books, and you still wouldn't be carbon neutral. If you follow all the steps I give then you will be carbon neutral. But that doesn't mean it's easy!

We can break down each of these areas further into inputs and outputs. Your inputs are quite simply what you consume, so for heating this might mean gas, or heating oil. Your outputs are what you waste, what comes out of your household. This might include waste food, fumes from your car exhaust, or even sewage from your toilet! In each of these six areas, to become carbon neutral we need to change how we handle our inputs and outputs. For example, if we put our waste food in a compost bin instead of in the landfill, we are now carbon neutral in food output.

So 'how to go carbon neutral'? We need to look at each of the 6 areas, and swap our inputs and outputs for carbon neutral alternatives. It's often easier to start with the outputs, than the inputs. For example, it's easier to start composting, than to generate all your own electricity. But there are some simple areas you can start with:

1. Swap your electric supplier to one that's carbon neutral: Good Energy, Green Energy, or Ecotricity
2. Start composting

These are the two simplest measures that most people can take to reduce their carbon footprint. So what are you waiting for?

To find out more go to How to go carbon neutral